Love God. Love people. Be a servant. You may have an old Crossings t-shirt collecting dust with that mission statement on it, but those core truths remain essential to the way we approach life and ministry. Servant DNA, however, goes beyond excellent customer service and hospitality. A life of servanthood is a life that embodies a fundamental pulse of Scripture.
It doesn’t take long to see that God delights in servanthood. Jesus reminds us that his very purpose of coming was not to be served but to serve! (Mark 10:45). Additionally, in the Kingdom of God, the one who is the greatest is the one who serves (Luke 22:26-27).
We want our ministry to echo the heart of Christ as we emphasize a posture of servanthood for everyone in our ministry.
The command to serve is simple . . . not easy. It’s hard enough to cultivate a desire to serve, but the least we can do is chart a clear course for what serving looks like. What follows is are five core components of a Christ-like servant of the Gospel.
1. Hope in the Holy Spirit
On our absolute best days, we are imperfect servants. It is life-giving to hear the Word of God through James reminding us, “He gives more grace” (James 4:6). And in the following verses of James 6, we are reminded to draw near to God, resist the devil, cleanse our hands, and purify our hearts. How can we accomplish these sanctifying acts? Only through the power of the Holy Spirit as he guides and directs our will to his ends. We become active participants, by God’s grace, as we strive to work out our salvation though obedience.
2. Live with Integrity
Living with integrity means acting with the courage to do what is right over what is comfortable, what is right over what is merely fun, fast, or easy, and practicing our values rather than merely professing them.
Consider this Proverb: “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” Proverbs 10:9
3. Work Hard
Often, this means being the first to show up and willing to be the last to leave. When a task presents itself, will you be the first to volunteer? And when the task is complete, do you shrink away or ask, “What next?”
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul encourages the church to see that every aspect of their work has eternal significance, and that should be their drive to work heartily for the Lord:
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
Colossians 3:23–24
4. Pursue Peace
Just like Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Paul emphasizes peacemaking in the life of disciples. In Romans 12:17-18, Paul wrote, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
One of the simplest ways we pursue peace is by guarding our tongues. A helpful way to remember this is to ensure that when a problem arises, we speak to the person involved and not about the person. Also, ask yourself, do I work to include or exclude others?
Faithful servants approach the problem and make peace with others by choosing to meet with God and examining their own hearts. Most of the issues in our lives can be avoided when we choose to be kind and extend the same grace to others Christ has extended to us.
5. Have a Good Attitude
We must remember that an attitude is a choice we make, as much as an emotion we feel. So many times, our problems are more internal than external. And the external problems we face are often because of internal issues, thoughts, and assumptions.
The only way to renew our attitudes is to renew our minds with the words of God, which have the power to shape our thoughts and actions by conforming us to the likeness of Christ. That’s a daily sanctifying process. After filling ourselves with the Word of God, we must preach gospel truths to ourselves and not just listen to our unstable attitudes. Remember, our hearts are deceitful.
Another way our attitudes steer us away from servanthood is through speculation. We cannot always know another person’s motives. Rather, our goal is to heed the command in Philippians 2:5–7 by putting the focus on our own motives:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
A Tool for Aspiring Servants
When I start to feel slighted, or entitled, it is almost always a result of my own distancing from these core tenets expressed in the life of a true servant of Christ. My hope is these five principles of servant DNA can help a brother or sister imitate Christ. They are not a weapon but a tool for helping us to conform to the image of Christ.
God wills our sanctification. And he sanctifies us through servanthood. So . . . Love God. Love people. Be a servant.